{"id":103543,"date":"2026-05-04T15:44:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T15:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/spencer-hyde-races-to-quarterfinals-at-nhra-southern-nationals\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T15:44:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T15:44:08","slug":"spencer-hyde-races-to-quarterfinals-at-nhra-southern-nationals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/spencer-hyde-races-to-quarterfinals-at-nhra-southern-nationals\/","title":{"rendered":"Spencer Hyde Races to Quarterfinals at NHRA Southern Nationals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunday at the inaugural NHRA national event at beautiful South Georgia Motorsports Park in Adel, Georgia, 2025 NHRA Rookie of the Year Spencer Hyde and the Head Contractors and Engineers Funny Car raced to a quarterfinal finish at the Southern Nationals. Coming into race day as the No. 9 qualifier Hyde, who is solidly in the Funny Car top ten in points, knew he would need quick times to have a long race day. Through three rounds of qualifying Hyde made two solid passes and one throw away run during a rain delayed qualifying session yesterday that saw race cars in the left lane struggle to get down the track.
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\u201cEveryone has to deal with the same racetrack but last night the left lane was a real challenge for a lot of the race cars,\u201d said Hyde, runner-up earlier this season at the Arizona Nationals. \u201cOur first two qualifying runs were solid but yesterday wasn\u2019t super productive to get us ready for today. I felt good coming into the first round, but we knew we would need to try and hold onto lane choice.\u201dIn the opening round racing against the two-time reigning Funny Car champion Austin Prock, Hyde led the race from start to finish. He took a commanding lead with a strong .049 second reaction time and his Ford Mustang Funny Car was glued to the middle of the groove as he cruised to victory with a winning time of 3.978 seconds to Prock\u2019s 4.101 second pass.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first round is always nerve-wracking and seeing that win light was big,\u201d said Hyde. \u201cThat run felt really good. I got off the line first and this Mustang Funny Car went right down the middle of the track. We were in the left lane, and Jim was able to make it work which was pretty impressive.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the quarterfinal round it was a battle two of the rising stars in the Funny Car class with Hyde taking on Funny Car newcomer Jordan Vandergriff. It was a serious No. 9 versus No. 3 qualifier match up but Hyde was hopeful another win light was in his future. Vandergriff had lane choice and Hyde was once again back in the problematic left lane. This round the Head Contractors and Engineers Funny Car was not as fortunate coming off the starting line and overpowered the racetrack. Hyde had to watch as Vandergriff, who would go on to win the race, pulled away for the victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe track was heating up, and the conditions were just getting tricky for everyone,\u201d said Hyde. \u201cThis is a new racetrack and while the crowds and staff were awesome everyone had to figure out the track. This weekend was a solid weekend for our team. We made some good runs, and we turned on a win light. We\u2019ll take some time and get ready for Chicago in a couple weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hyde was pulling double duty at the Southern Nationals also racing the Pro Mod class. He drew Pro Mod standout Lyle Barnett in the first round. He was giving up lane choice but felt confident going into the opening session. Barnett grabbed a slight starting line advance but Hyde\u2019s respectable .032 reaction time had his Team Shelton Motorsports Mustang right with Barnett. Hyde had to give his race car a quick pedal in the left lane while Barnett was on a smooth pass beside him. It was Barnett getting the win at the strip with a winning 5.991 second pass in front of Hyde\u2019s 6.089 second run.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny time I can get behind the wheel of a Pro Mod car I am ready to do that,\u201d said Hyde, winner of the 2023 World Series of Pro Mod. \u201cIt helps keep you in race mode when you are constantly getting time on the track. I want to thank Team Shelton Motorsports for the chance. Lyle is a tough customer, and we knew we would have our hands full against him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hyde and the Head Contractors and Engineers Funny Car will be back in competition in two weeks at the Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals presented by PEAK on May 14-17 at Route 66 Raceway. There will be two qualifying sessions on Friday, May 15 and two qualifying sessions on Saturday, May 16. For tickets or more information on the Route 66 Nationals visit\u00a0nhra.com<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published on May 4, 2026. \"Drag<\/p>\n

The post Spencer Hyde Races to Quarterfinals at NHRA Southern Nationals<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sunday at the inaugural NHRA national event at beautiful South Georgia Motorsports Park in Adel, Georgia, 2025 NHRA Rookie of the Year Spencer Hyde and the Head Contractors and Engineers Funny Car raced to a quarterfinal finish at the Southern Nationals. Coming into race day as the No. 9 qualifier Hyde, who is solidly in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103543\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}